Meditation for beginners: a simple technique to create awareness

Raising awareness in meditation is more than learning to develop a deeper focus. It is about learning to bring the light of awareness to all processes, habits, attitudes and beliefs that have avoided conscious detection.

It’s about taking a closer look at yourself…particularly the unconscious parts of yourself.

The unconscious mind is, by definition, unconscious… or outside of awareness.

This can make many things in life challenging because the unconscious mind (the seat of emotion, motivation, energy, etc.) cannot be easily observed.

Fortunately, there is a way around this. The effects of the unconscious mind can be seen throughout your life if you know how to look. One of the basic skills of meditation is awareness. Paying attention to the structure of your mind, or the structure of what happens in your life, will be one of the most revealing experiences of your life.

Why should you develop more awareness of the hidden aspects of yourself?

The mystery of the self is really fascinating to unravel. Once you start digging below the surface, you’ll never find another puzzle more interesting than the one that exists just below your own perceptions.

As you begin to unravel this mystery, you will gain a truly rare form of clarity. You will understand human nature not only from an academic or external point of view. You will have seen it from all angles. You will understand from firsthand experience, from the point of view of a detached second person, and from the awareness that while animal nature is a part of you… you are also something bigger!

How can you develop this awareness?

Begins to pay attention to internal and external experiences without judging them.

1. Sit quietly alone. Take a few deep, relaxing breaths.
2. Just let your mind relax too. Imagine your vision, your hearing and your feelings moving away… as if you could see, hear and feel everything that happens everywhere.
3. When you allow your awareness to drift away, you can let it happen all at once, or you can gradually come out… imagine that you can expand your awareness to encompass the entire room you are in… then the entire house. …then the entire city you are in…then the country…then the entire planet…then the entire universe…then allow your consciousness to expand beyond all worlds and all the dimensions… until the complete mastery of everything that is manifest and non-manifest.
4. Just relax into that expanded awareness as you continue to breathe deeply and slowly.
5. As you remain in this awareness, notice what arises. Just watch him as he continues to breathe deeply and slowly. When you’re ready, let it go.
6. Notice if any theme or structure seems to come through. Notice if the same thought or feeling comes back over and over again.
7. Sit in this space of expanded awareness for 5 minutes or more, if you wish.

When you’re done, write down any impressions you have, and also write down any consistent themes, thoughts, or feelings that have come up repeatedly. Avoid judging any of this. Stop calling it good or bad. Just treat it like a very interesting story unfolding.

The more you can practice this exercise without judgment, the more clearly you will be able to see (or hear… or feel) your own patterns, as well as the patterns of others.